Find Worthwhile Movies On Netflix With A Better Queue

This summer, I have more free time to enjoy Netflix movies and series which makes me ecstatic. There is no end, it seems, to the choices of films and episodes that one can watch so finding something worthwhile is a frequent challenge.

Instead of browsing via genres only in Netflix, there is a recently released web app/mashup called A Better Queue that can help you decide what film to put on your watch queue. It does this by pulling ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, one of the more well-known movie review sites with upcoming movie information. A Better Queue is a free service that also lets you browse through the Netflix movie collection via genres and other goodies, which we will talk about in detail up next.

Layout

Instead of presenting movies in horizontal galleries in Netflix-style, A Better Queue displays films in a vertically-scrollable list that seems to never end. The list in fact keeps revealing movies when you attempt to scroll down, which is something I appreciate because visiting different pages for the same content is a waste of clicks and time for me.

Each movie, which clicks to the corresponding Netflix page, is shown along with their Rotten Tomatoes score where, by default, pretty “fresh” scores of 75% and above are shown (scores of 60% or higher are considered “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes). If you click on the scores, you’ll be taken to the Rotten Tomatoes review page for that movie.

Besides their score from Rotten Tomatoes, there is also the release date and genre information as well as a Netflix expiration date, if it exists.

Sort By

If you have very specific movie requirements, you can select movies with higher Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer scores. Like I mentioned before, by default, movies with a score of at least 75% are shown, but you can always raise it to about 90% for a likely unforgettable movie. You can also make A Better Queue only display movies by year range, in increments of five, e.g. 1975, 1980, etc.

If you are in the mood for a specific genre, A Better Queue also has you covered as you can filter the movie selection by genres, something Netflix already does minus the scores from Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer.

Trial Run

It’s easy to look at A Better Queue and decide its usefulness over looks only, but using the service helps me decide whether or not the web app will be a bookmark in my browser. In my trial run, I decided I was in the mood for a funny, entertaining film, so for genres I picked comedy only and de-selected all the other genres. For year range, I moved the slider so I was looking only at movies from 1995-2012. The default Tomatometer setting at 75% seemed fine to me.

The results were promising since I knew Meet The Parents had been amusing and deserved an 80% at least in my book. As for the other suggestions, Robin Willliams is an excellent actor and the title of “World’s Greatest Dad” sounds pretty comical. Verdict? I found a movie I’m watching next. Mission accomplished!

Other Ways To Browse Netflix Movies

If you are interested in A Better Queue but would prefer a web browser extension instead of visiting a site, check out Rotten Netflix which is a Chrome extension that displays the Rotten Tomatoes score underneath the movie in Netflix. There are also half a dozen addons for Firefox that will make any movie addict happy.

Ira Brandstein

Jessica Cam Wong

Richard Wesley Eby Jr.

June 21, 2012

I heard that netflix will be discontinuing a lot of third party applications that have to do with its movie listings, which in turn will make a lot of sites no longer usable. Is this going to be one of them?

Theresa Banks

Gaurav Rajak

Louwra Preyser

August 27, 2012

I love Netflix! I’ve had it ever since it came out in the UK and it has really changed the way I watch movies/tv shows etc. I mostly watch what is recommended based on my reviews, however I rarely watch something that has a low rating.

Shawia Harris

September 15, 2012

I have had netflix for some time now and have been trying to get more movies that I’m
interested in. Movies such as New Jack City, Jason’s Lyric, Above the Rim, Scareface,
The Color Purple, School Daze, The Learning Tree, He Got Game, The Players Club,
White Man Can’t Jump, Booty Call, Set It Off, Year One, They Call Me Bruce, Seventeen Again(with Keanu Reeves), Nothing To Lose, etc.. Not that the movies I have available now are not good, JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!

Declan Lopez

Cheryl

Anonymous

December 19, 2014

Hulu for TV. Netflix for movies. my recommendation, don’t get mailed dvd’s from Netflix unless you got to see the newest movies. Otherwise just stream it, get Hulu plus, get Amazon prime, get crunch, giving you tube movie search watch her. then signed up for ultra violet and maybe get yourself Flixster and Vudu. cancel your cable service. keep your Internet. get Yidio or something comparative and voilà! you might spend around $30 a month membership fees… Maybe! most of these apps are accessible via any modern Wi-Fi television, Wi-Fi Blu-ray player, video game system, TV box like AppleTV or